If we are to imagine a system that is sensitive to the complexity of individuals and their lives, rooted in compassion and dignity, we quickly understand that the social function of our current criminal legal system defies principled reasoning. https://twitter.com/breenewsome/status/1387944083725897733

It’s incredible the burden that is placed on advocates and the community to “prove” how a racist and dysfunctional system is racist and dysfunctional. Yet, the pro carceral stakeholders can literally proffer fantastical narratives that is taken as gospel.

The vast majority of our policies are rooted in magical thinking, arbitrary categories, and make believe numbers. For example, sentence lengths are just arbitrary numbers that are not grounded in any social science or reason.

The cultural inertia behind mass incarceration and the punishment paradigm is relentless and has seemingly convinced our society of the illusion that we do not have the ability to do anything that moves us towards a culture of compassion.

We have 5,000 plus jails and prisons in the U.S. This is the most comprehensive and elaborate infrastructure of incarceration and punishment the world has known. "From slavery until today, the U.S. has built systems of mass incarceration at the cost of EVERYTHING else."

The politics of fear and anger have seduced and coerced us into believing punishment, distrust, violence, and racial subjugation are required for “order.”

There is no greater form of marginalization/oppression than being told that state violence/trauma rooted in white supremacy and perpetrated at levels the modern world has not known isn’t happening or is required to maintain “order.”